What Will Become of the Jews of Iran? Part One

Jewish Journal ^ | Jan 2024 | Tabby Refael

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Many scholars believe that Jews are Iran’s oldest religious minority, having lived there nearly 2,700 years (if you count the first 100 years of Jewish captivity in Babylon, after the fall of the First Temple). Jews lived in Iran, which until 1935 was known as Persia, for over 1,000 years before the arrival of Islam. The land — its language, culture, prose and history — is ingrained in us, whether we still live in Iran or escaped in the last four decades and resettled in countries such as the United States, Israel, Canada or Italy.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the Westernizing, secularizing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, there were nearly 100,000 Jews in Iran. Today, that number is less than 10,000, according to Israeli sources, though the regime (and Jewish leaders in Iran themselves) often elevate that number to 20,000.

Why? It’s simple: It is in Iran’s best interest to boast that it has a large, thriving Jewish population, especially when the regime is slammed with accusations of antisemitism as a result of everything from funding billions of dollars to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, to executing over 20 Jews since 1979 and hosting Holocaust cartoon contests.

…It should be noted that in Iran, Jews (and Christians, Zoroastrians and other recognized religious minorities, excluding Baha’is) are considered a protected religious minority, and Jews and Christians are a people of the “ketab” (book/Bible). And unlike Jews who escaped Arab countries long ago, Iran’s Jews are not currently harassed or being killed.

Again, optics are vital to the regime and the last thing it needs now, while it demands a better deal from the West and seeks to sabotage Saudi-Israel relations, is news that it has executed members of its own Jewish community, especially after Oct. 7.

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TOPICS: History; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: iran; israel; jews; middleeast

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(article is from last year)

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When Iran offered its Jewish Population assistance to relocate to Israel some years back the offer was declined.